• Authors:
    • Idoko, J.
    • Egbe, O.
  • Source: Agro-Science
  • Volume: 8
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Field experiments were conducted at the National Root Crops Research Institute sub-station, Otobi, in 2006 and 2007 to assess the suitability of improved sweet potato varieties for intercropping with pigeonpea and also to determine the planting pattern and the productivity of the intercropping system. Intercropping decreased total fresh root and saleable root yields of sweet potato when mixed or row-intercropped with pigeonpea. All intercropping combinations of sweet potato varieties and pigeonpea had land equivalent ratio above 1.0, except intercropping with WA Gabolige, signifying high intercrop advantages. TIS 87/0087 produced the highest total fresh root and saleable root yields in both cropping systems, irrespective of the planting pattern used. TIS 2532.O.P.1.13 and TIS 86/00356 sweet potato varieties had comparable yields with TIS 87/0087 in both cropping systems. Pigeonpea was the more competitive component of the intercrop. Farmers showed willingness to adopt the sweet potato+pigeonpea intercropping.
  • Authors:
    • Idoko, J. A.
    • Ege, O. M.
  • Source: ARPN Journal of Agricultural and Biological Science
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Field experiments were conducted at the National Root Crops Research Institute Sub-Station, Otobi in 2006 and 2007 to assess the suitability of improved Sweet potato varieties for intercropping with pigeonpea and also determine the planting pattern and productivity of this intercropping system. Intercropping decreased total fresh root and saleable root yields of sweet potato when mixed or row-intercropped with pigeonpea. All intercropping combinations of sweet potato varieties and pigeonpea had land equivalent ratio above 1.0, except that with WA Gabolige, signifying high intercrop advantages. TIS 87/0087 produced the highest total fresh root and saleable root yields in both cropping systems, irrespective of the planting pattern used. TIS 2532.O.P.1.13 and TIS 86/00356 sweet potato varieties had comparable yields with TIS 87/0087 in both cropping systems. Pigeonpea was the more competitive component of the intercropping. Farmers' willingness to adopt this technological option of sweet potato+pigeonpea intercropping further assured its potential benefits and sustainability in Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria.
  • Authors:
    • Yin, Q.
    • Jia, Z.
    • Xie, Y.
    • Guo, X.
  • Source: Jiangsu Journal of Agricultural Sciences
  • Volume: 25
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Cultivation practices on fresh sweetpotato were conducted on both farmland and interplanting poplars field with three factors of cultivar, planting density and potassium fertilizer. It was different in composition of marketable root yield among three cultivars. Ningshu 192 was a kind of root-weight type cultivar which gave high ratio of marketable root yield. Ningzi 1 was a kind of root-number type cultivar which gave lots of small root. Jishu 18 was the intermediate which gave higher ratio of marketable root number following a better cultivation method. On farmland the high marketable root yield were harvested through planting density 1 hm 2 48 000 cuttings and more application of 225 kg/hm potassium sulfate fertilizer. The fresh sweetpotato production was unavailable on the interplanting poplars field due to very low marketable root yield.
  • Authors:
    • Raina, S.
    • Jaggi, R.
  • Source: Indian Journal of Fertilisers
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Nitrogen application up to 240 kg/ha consistently increased total and large-sized potato tuber yield over no N. However, higher levels of N led to the deterioration in nutritional, processing and storage quality of potato. Applying 75% of N as basal and 25% as top dressing improved the storage quality of potato. The effect of FYM was more pronounced in the absence of N. Use of biofertilizers in conjunction with organic fertilizers increased their efficiency and served as a supplementing source to increase nutrient availability for sustainable agriculture especially in heavy feeder crop like potato. This also reduced P dose without sacrificing yield and kept soil healthier at the same time. The optimum doses of K for mid hill soils of Himachal Pradesh were worked out to be 62 to 112 kg/ha with and without FYM, respectively. Significant improvement in storability of potato was observed up to 100 kg K 2O/ha. A significant response to application of micronutrients (Zn, Mn and Fe) was observed under Jammu and Himachal Pradesh soils. There was also a significant response to seed rate, sowing time and irrigation. Intercrops of cabbage, french bean and pea with potato were very productive and far more remunerative than sole potato. There was a good response to balanced and integrated nutrient management in potato.
  • Authors:
    • Sanjay, K.
    • Sharma, S.
    • Kaushik, V.
  • Source: Journal of Environmental Research and Development
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Suitable to environment or eco-friendly means not harmful to our system of environment i.e. not harmful to land, air etc. Presently, due to agriculture a lot of pollutants are added day by day in our environment. Because of these pollutants, the soil fertility is decreasing, the fear of disease in living beings are increasing, a lot of poisonous chemicals and gases prevails in the environment. There is a great need to the use of such a cropping system which is suitable to environment i.e Eco-friendly system of cropping. The Eco-friendliness of cropping system may be viewed from two different angles i.e systems which help in soil and water conservation and system which reduce the use of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, organic fertilizers. As far as the pesticides use is concerned at national level, it is a still for below the alarming proportions. Inclusion of such crops in the cropping systems in problem areas can play a significant role in minimizing the use of agro-chemicals in the crop production. Insecticides or fungicides use can also be minimized to a considerable extent through cropping system approach. It has been reported that sorghum ear-head fly damage is extremely rare where pigeon pea is planted in alternate rows. Intercropping of coriander in autumn planted sugarcane prevent top borer in sugarcane Sorghum helepense ( L) pers (Tohangen grass) becomes predominant weed in continuous maize cultivation but can be controlled by rotating with cotton. Adoption of sugarcane wheat system in place of rice-wheat decreases philaries minor infestation to almost negligible level which is otherwise not achieved through herbicides. In maize-potato cropping system raising of pearl millet for green fodder or sesamum for green manure during summer was also found advantageous in reducing Cyprus rotundas in succeeding crop of maize and potato. Position of ground water owing to leaching of nitrates is a selectively new concern in India. Because usage of N-fertilizer is low in India, nitrate is not likely to pose serious problems in most farming situations. Choice of appropriate system and management practices helped minimizing nitrate leaching besides improving N-use efficiency.
  • Authors:
    • Zhu, Y.
    • Wang, H.
    • Xie, Y.
    • Sun, Y.
    • Liu, L.
    • Yang, J.
    • Zhao, G.
    • Tang, Y.
    • Xu, J.
    • Long, Y.
    • Wang, G.
    • Yang, J.
    • Fan, J.
    • Yang, J.
    • Li, Y.
    • Wang, Y.
    • Zhou, H.
    • Zhu, S.
    • He, X.
    • Li, C.
  • Source: PLOS One
  • Issue: November
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Traditional farming practices suggest that cultivation of a mixture of crop species in the same field through temporal and spatial management may be advantageous in boosting yields and preventing disease, but evidence from large-scale field testing is limited. Increasing crop diversity through intercropping addresses the problem of increasing land utilization and crop productivity. In collaboration with farmers and extension personnel, we tested intercropping of tobacco, maize, sugarcane, potato, wheat and broad bean - either by relay cropping or by mixing crop species based on differences in their heights, and practiced these patterns on 15,302 hectares in ten counties in Yunnan Province, China. The results of observation plots within these areas showed that some combinations increased crop yields for the same season between 33.2 and 84.7% and reached a land equivalent ratio (LER) of between 1.31 and 1.84. This approach can be easily applied in developing countries, which is crucial in face of dwindling arable land and increasing food demand.
  • Authors:
    • Sharaiha, R.
    • Molla, A.
  • Source: Lucrari Stiintifice, Universitatea de Stiinte Agricole Si Medicina Veterinara "Ion Ionescu de la Brad" Iasi, Seria Agronomie
  • Volume: 52
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Mixed intercropping of barley and wheat has been reported as the practice of smallholder farmers in some dryland areas of Ethiopia. However, this cropping system has not yet received the attention of research. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the level of competition and yield advantage in barley and wheat mixed intercropping under different stress levels of moisture deficit. One pot and one field experiments were conducted to address these objectives. In the pot experiment, three irrigation water levels (75-80, 50-55, and 25-30% depletion of soil available water), five intercropping ratios (%) of barley to wheat in a replacement series (100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75, and 0/100), and four planting densities (4, 8, 12 and 16 plants/pot) were studied in a split-split plot design and had three sets so as to harvest at tillering, heading and maturity stages. In the field, the five intercropping ratios and the four water levels supplied by sprinkler irrigation system were studied in a split-plot design. Intra- and inter-specific competition decreased with decreasing stress levels of moisture deficit; but increased with increasing planting densities in all harvesting stages in the pot experiment. However, both competition types were higher at tillering stage but progressively decreased in later harvesting stages. Intraspecific competition was more important for barley at early stages and for wheat at later stages of the growing period. Both pot and field experiments proved that barley was less competitive than wheat towards the reproductive stage. Yield advantage of mixed intercropping of barley and wheat increased with increasing stress levels of moisture deficit under study. Yield advantage and productivity tended to be dominated by the higher yielding crop species in the mixture. This result suggests mixed intercropping of barley and wheat is not a priority in areas where moisture is not limiting in amount and distribution. It is advisable to use 50% barley+50% wheat ratio since it is difficult to predict which crop performs better than the other in such unpredictable rainfall conditions of the drylands.
  • Authors:
    • Nowacki, W.
  • Source: Journal of Research and Applications in Agricultural Engineering
  • Volume: 54
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: In the paper, an influence of potato irrigation on higher level of total yield and changing share of market yield in total yield were evaluated. Profitability of using of drip irrigation was calculated taking into account the expenses and value of yield. Is was shown that in case of drought during the vegetation period yield the increase of potato yield due to irrigation in ecological system may achieve up to 25%. Potato quality is improved which is expressed by increased market yield. Relative high cost of drip irrigation are fully refund by increasing value of potato market yield. It is also possible to use the irrigation for increasing biomass production which comes from intercrop production used for ploughing.
  • Authors:
    • Paza, A.
  • Source: Biuletyn Instytutu Hodowli i Aklimatyzacji Roslin
  • Issue: 254
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The paper presents results of the investigations conducted in the years 2001-2004, which aimed to assess the influence of undersown crops and stubble catch crops on yielding of potatoes cultivated under changing weather conditions. The following combinations of intercrop fertilization were applied: control object (without intercrop fertilization), farmyard manure, undersown crop (black medic, black medic+Italian ryegrass), stubble catch crop (phacelia, phacelia - mulch). In autumn, the content of dry mass and macroelements (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) in potato plants and in farmyard manure was determined. In the first year after intercrop fertilization table potatoes were cultivated. During harvest a total yield and commercial yield of potato tubers were assessed, and after harvest the content of starch was determined. The results obtained showed that weather conditions in the period of investigations significantly modified the yields of potato tubers. The undersown crops applied (black medic+Italian ryegrass and black medic) and stubble catch crops (phacelia both plowed down in the autumn or left in the form of mulch till the spring, time alike) completely substituted for the farmyard manure in potato fertilization.
  • Authors:
    • Paza,A.
  • Source: Biuletyn Instytutu Hodowli i Aklimatyzacji Roslin
  • Issue: 251
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Field studies were conducted in Poland, from 2001 to 2004, to evaluate the influence of undersown crop plowed down in autumn and of stubble crop plowed down in autumn and left in the form of mulch until spring in combinations with or without straw on potato tuber yield and its structure. The effects of 2 factors were assessed, i.e. intercrop fertilizer application, control object, farmyard manure and undersown crop biomass which was plowed down in autumn (white clover + Italian ryegrass), stubble crop-biomass plowed down in autumn (white mustard) and stubble crop-biomass left in the form of mulch until spring (white mustard) and straw fertilizer application, a sub-block with straw and a sub-block without straw. During harvest time, the total yield and commercial yield were assessed. The yield structure was determined after harvest. The highest yield of potato tubers was obtained from the object that had been fertilized with a mixture of white clover with Italian ryegrass. Fertilizer application with intercrops and farmyard manure had favourable influence on the shaping of tuber yield structure. The yield produced in sub-blocks with straw, compared to that produced in sub-blocks with no straw, was characterized by a lower share of medium-sized tubers and higher share of small tubers.